Honors and Awards

• Two-Time Big 12 Commissioner’s Fall Academic Honor Roll (2007, 2008)
• Two-Time Big 12 Commissioner’s Spring Academic Honor Roll (2008, 2009)

2009 Outlook
Sophomore Austin Cassidy will bid to earn playing time in a deep and experienced Nebraska secondary in 2009. Cassidy will enter fall camp as a reserve safety behind seniors Larry Asante, Matt O'Hanlon and Rickey Thenarse, who all have significant starting experience under their belts. The 6-1, 210-pound Cassidy will also look to push for action on the Husker special teams.

A Lincoln Southwest graduate, Cassidy excels in the classroom, carrying a 3.818 cumulative grade-point average. He has been named to the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll each of his four semesters of college.

2008 (Redshirt Freshman)
Cassidy served as a reserve safety behind Asante, O'Hanlon and Thenarse throughout the season. He appeared in NU wins over New Mexico State and Kansas State and made an unassisted tackle against the Aggies.

2007 (Redshirt)
Cassidy sat out his first season as a redshirt and worked with the scout team.

Before Nebraska (Lincoln Southwest HS)
Cassidy was a standout performer for Coach Mark King at Lincoln Southwest High School, where he was a first-team Super-State pick by the Lincoln Journal Star and a second-team All-Nebraska selection by the Omaha World-Herald. Cassidy compiled a 14-1 record as the Silverhawks' starting quarterback, including a perfect regular season in 2006. Cassidy rushed for 1,507 yards as a senior, averaging a Class A best 8.3 yards per carry, with eight runs of 40 or more yards.

A captain on the football team, Cassidy was one of the state's top all-around athletes. He qualified for the state track meet in the pole vault, the 110- and 300-meter hurdles in his junior and senior seasons, and was the Class A gold medalist in the pole vault as a junior. His all-around performance earned him Male Athlete-of-the-Year honors at Southwest. Cassidy attracted recruiting interest from Northwestern, Air Force, Buffalo, Princeton, Cornell, South Dakota, Northern Colorado and UNO.

Personal
Austin was born on Aug. 5, 1988, and is the son of Tim and Nancy Cassidy. He is majoring in psychology and earned perfect 4.0 grade-point averages each of the past two semesters. Austin has volunteered his time with Nebraska's team hospital visits as well as the F Street Recreation Center and Legacy Retirement Center. Austin's father was the NU Associate Athletic Director for Football Operations from 2004 to 2007.